Frida and Benny had given an edited version of their reconciliation but Anna and Bjorn knew them well enough to fill in the gaps and realise that they had found an understanding that worked for them and neither of them could have been more delighted. Anna smiled peacefully and closed her eyes lacing her fingers through Bjorn's and listened contentedly to the conversation, she felt like her world was righting itself. She was tired today and very achy but days like this were not uncommon when she had been busy, she would take some painkillers in a while. She smiled as she listened to Bjorn telling them about his confrontation with Lena and as he finished she opened her eyes and said "she had better hope I never get anywhere near her and worse than what she did to Bjorn I can't imagine anything more terrible than telling your children you don't love them and criticising them constantly. The poor girls are so lucky they had Bjorn" Bjorn looked uncomfortable but squeezed her gently in thanks and kissed the top of her head. He sighed and said "I don't know why I let it go on for so long, I just couldn't face another failed marriage and I thought the girls deserved a stable upbringing with their mother and me, it wasn't until too late I admitted to myself that we would have been better off just us three together and what I should have done is got down on my knees and begged Anna to take us all back" Frida nudged Anna with her toe "and everyone other than you Bjorn knows she would have yelled at you, cried all over you and the girls and then taken you all in" she grinned "Isn't that right little one?" Anna smiled and said "I might have made him get on his knees and beg when the kids weren't looking" she giggled and squeezed Bjorn's hand "but yes, I would have done so with no hesitation" she shrugged and said simply "I love him" The calm and easy way she just threw that statement into the conversation, the acceptance in her tone made Bjorn's eyes sting all over again, for a man not known for showing his emotions he was in tears and off balance a lot around her nowadays he reflected. He shook his head and shifted her a little, kissed her temple and said "I love you too Baby"
Frida and Benny both chuckled and Frida asked about Anna's next run of chemo, she was delighted to hear that Bjorn would take her, she thought that Bjorn's presence might ease Anna's anxieties and help her to cope with the pain better. She resolved to chat with Bjorn alone at some point and warn him what to expect, she and Benny had already discussed this at length and they had both decided that they would stay around until Anna had finished her chemo and that they would mark the occasion with her. They had plans to take Bjorn and Anna to Vallentuna and stay there for a few days at some point. Bjorn had expressed that wish the last time they were there and the security upgrade was complete now. They also planned to surprise both of them and stay overnight at Viggso this week before Anna's chemo started again.
That was for much later though, for now they were just enjoying a day spent slobbing around in pajamas and Bjorn was going to enjoy every moment, tomorrow he had an early meeting at Slottsholmen that he could not reschedule and he had some administration stuff to catch up on but he intended to do that here. He would come back straight after the meeting. His meandering thoughts were interrupted by Anna sighing and saying "I need to move, I need some painkillers and a drink" Bjorn frowned "How much pain are you in Anna?" "It's not too bad but it takes me a while to get over a busy day like yesterday. I'm just achy Bjorn. I'll be fine tomorrow, it's normal don't worry" He let her clamber up and helped her get her balance, steadying her while she put her clogs back on and watching as she wandered to the kitchen. "Benny, how much would it cost you to close the pool at Rival for an evening and overnight?" he asked quietly his eyes still on Anna's retreating back. Benny blinked at the change in subject "I've no idea, why?" he asked. "It's a saltwater pool isn't it? No chemicals?" Benny nodded confused "Yes saltwater and ions, no chemicals I don't like chlorine" he said. "The saltwater helps you float doesn't it? Better than just water?" Bjorn continued. "Yes that's right" Benny answered "What are you thinking?" "Frida hit upon the shower idea with Anna when her skin is sore and she can't sit or lie down or move. Anna said it stopped the burning and she told me she loved it, she says her joints hurt her and she feels like her skin is melting off her during her treatment. If I took her in the pool during chemo and she could float and be in the water for as long as it took her to stop hurting, the weightlessness would help her joints and the saltwater would help her skin. Would it be more comfy for her than the shower Frida? Would it help?" Frida considered it a wonderful idea and told him so "Sitting on the stool in the shower did hurt her bottom a lot but she said it was a small price to pay to stop the burning. If she was floating there would be no weight on any bit of her at all. Bjorn, it's worth a try!" Frida got excited and turned to Benny "Is it possible? Can we do it? I'll pay the cost of closing the pool so you don't lose out" she told Benny "You most certainly won't pay, I will" said Bjorn firmly. Benny glared at Frida and then glared at Bjorn and growled "Don't be so ridiculous the pair of you, none of you will pay anything. If it has even the tiniest chance of helping her I'll close the whole damn pool complex for as long as she needs it!!" Both Bjorn and Frida were surprised at Benny's tiny show of temper and grinned at each other "Thank you Benny" Bjorn said sincerely "It's nice to see your confidence returning as well" Benny looked discomfited and said "Well really you two! What did you expect? What do you take me for?" "But Benny darling you will take a financial hit" Frida said gently. "I don't care. Some things are much more important than money Frida. Besides god knows how much of a financial hit Anna has taken over the years paying for us all to be safe and getting rid of Tomas. It doesn't bear thinking about." Benny retorted. He hugged Frida closer and said "Thank god we ARE all still here" Bjorn hummed in agreement and Frida snuggled back into Benny. Bjorn got up off the sofa "Anyone want anything while I'm up?" "All we've done is eat and drink and talk" Frida giggled "but I can't deny that I'd like something to eat and drink and we need to reload the fire" "I refuse to feel at all guilty about it" Benny commented "Bjorn and I have waited decades for this and there's nowhere else I would rather be. Life will interrupt us soon enough but for now our sole focus should be us and Anna. This is our time to heal and regroup and enjoy each others company. We will take this time to do what we want and today is our day. Tomorrow Bjorn has to go to Slottsholmen, he has no choice" he looked at Bjorn for confirmation and Bjorn nodded. "I'm likely to go with him and you two can have a girly day. I haven't seen Slottsholmen in a while and Bjorn can't take his car out of here until the new trucks come" Bjorn hadn't thought of that and realised he would have to use the pool truck that Benny had with him. He smiled as he realised Benny was back on the ball and he had been so wrapped up with Anna and the kids that he was the one who had taken his eye off it. "Benny my friend, you are my saviour once again but it's a long drive are you sure that you want to come and leave Frida behind?" "No more than you want to leave Anna but needs must and if you think I'm staying here listening to them gossip about us all day you are sadly mistaken" he winked at Frida to show his humour and she grinned. "Bored with us already I see" she giggled as Bjorn immediately rose to the bait "No! Never! But I HAVE to go. Little Anna and I have a meeting with the municipal authorities. Anna isn't ready to come yet much as I'd like her to. Maybe one day she might want to." "What might I want to do?" enquired Anna from behind him, he turned and said "I have to go to Slottsholmen tomorrow morning and I don't want to but I don't have a choice. It's been booked for nearly a year and it's with the municipal authorities" he sighed "I'm going with him" said Benny "because he can't take his car out of here until the new trucks come, you two can have a girly day" "It won't be the whole day" Bjorn promised "I have stuff I can do here admin wise" Anna smiled and promised "Bjorn, after my chemo and when you have your new truck I will come with you to Slottsholmen, I'd like to see it for myself if that's ok with you. I can stay in the truck if I have too" All three of them looked back at her with great surprise and she blushed and shrugged "It's never that I don't want to go, I do. I worry about everybody and everything but if you're all changing your lives around to make this work then I have to try as well. The world scares me, I can't deny it but if we have the trucks and the security systems then I will try." she stopped, thinking what she wanted to say. "I'll always worry and I hate crowds and I'll always consider things and probably over analyse everything but I DO want to be part of things with you all" Bjorn's heart was full to the brim and he hugged her tightly "I will never allow anything to hurt you baby" he said vehemently. Anna smiled and said "I know" She looked at the clock and saw it was nearly 5 and getting dark. "I'm hungry and I need to make the most of it. What should we have?" Benny came up with "Something spicy" everyone thought that was a great idea immediately and Benny looked pleased "I haven't done spicy for a long time" Frida said "Now you've said it I really fancy a curry of some sort" "Me too" said Bjorn "Benny and I had Chinese takeaway a good few weeks ago now but it wasn't spicy. We should have rice with bits and pieces in it too" "It takes ages to make a good curry" Anna said and everyone's face fell. Anna burst out laughing and said "Look at you three, you look like disappointed children. I didn't say we couldn't have it, I'll just get the pressure cooker out. I think it's an amazing idea. Just right I think." She went off mumbling to herself and the rest of them followed her curious as to what she was up too. Benny broke off to go to the toilet, Bjorn made everyone drinks and Frida found an apron and tied it round herself. She was used to being Anna's sous chef now, Anna was rummaging around in the fridge and said "I've got beef or chicken or we can go veggie?" "I choose chicken" said Frida happily. Bjorn agreed and when Benny got back he said he liked all three choices so they went for chicken. "I'll have to do a beef something or another tomorrow then or it'll go off" Anna commented to nobody in particular as she got on with chopping chicken. Frida chopped onions and chillies and anything else that Anna asked of her. Anna was busy making a homemade curry paste and had asked Benny to get the pressure cooker out. She fried off the onions and the spices and dumped them into the pressure cooker, browned the chicken and the garlic and put that in then added more spices and lemongrass along with a couple of tins of coconut milk and a tin of tomatoes, she added some stock and then put the lid on the pressure cooker and set it to cook. Bjorn meanwhile had set about making his rice with bits and pieces as he called it and Benny had gone back to reload the fire. "Do you know what we forgot to do Bjorn?" Benny said coming back into the kitchen. "We forgot to look at the fence behind the stables today. We must get up earlier and do that before we set off for Slottsholmen!" "God yes you're right, I did forget. We'll do that first thing before breakfast" Bjorn replied frowning. He was cross with himself for forgetting but they had slept in so late and it had been such a relaxing day that it had slipped his mind completely. He decided that if Anna felt unsafe at all they would just put the shutters down overnight, he text Linda to say he'd forgotten to look at the weak spot and to put her shutters down if she wanted to. Linda replied rapidly and said they were fine and not worried. He told her he would go to Slottsholmen tomorrow and that Frida and Mama would be here alone. She replied that she would pop over and see them tomorrow and she would see him when he got home. Just that little sentence "when he got home tomorrow" made him grin stupidly to such a point that both Anna and Frida looked at him enquiringly. He explained it to them quietly and said "It's nearly worth going to Slottsholmen to know I'm coming home to this, to feel like I've got a home to 'come home' too" he chuckled at himself and said "I don't know how else to explain it, just seeing it in black and white on the screen made me think" Benny understood totally and patted him on the shoulder. "You're right there, it's not possible for anyone to be as lucky as us Bjorn"
They carried their food back into the living room when it was ready, all expressing a wish to remain in front of the fire, they had no need to watch TV, there was more than enough to say, more than enough to catch up on. They made their plans for the next few days and Anna was so excited to be having different things to do and different things to look forward to that her eyes sparkled and she forgot her aches and pains just for a little while. Frida and she planned a day cooking while the boys were out so that the freezers were restocked and the fridges were full up. On Wednesday they decided that they would go to Viggso, Bjorn and Anna did not know that they would be there until at least Thursday night. Frida was tasked with packing a small bag for the both of them while the boys were out and Anna was distracted cooking then hiding it in her and Benny's room. Luckily she knew exactly what medication Anna needed to take with her and what she needed to be comfy for a night. They had asked Linda if they could borrow her truck and leave her with the pool truck and Linda had agreed with alacrity and had sworn secrecy. Frida would check through Anna's medication with her when she popped over. Frida was so excited because she knew that Anna would be ecstatic and would be able to have a night of freedom and actually so would they all. It would be a step back in time to when they were all blissfully happy. It would be another piece returned to the puzzle that was their lives.
If Anna were to lose the battle Frida was determined that unlike Russo Anna would fulfill every wish and dream she had left and they would do them while Anna was well and happy so that the memories were not tainted. She had learnt many lessons from Russo and she would make sure that the same did not happen for Anna.
It did not mean that she thought Anna would die, far from it but her illness had shaken any complacency out of all of them and made them realise that time was not infinite, she knew that they all had less time in front of them than they had behind them and there were things that she wanted to do too. She couldn't think of anyone else she would rather do all of this with than Benny and the other two who she considered more like her siblings. She considered that they had all spent far too much time apart and now she didn't care what they would face, they would face it together, her and Benny and Anna and Bjorn.
This day had been precious, a pause in time. But this standstill was just the beginning.
